Carlo Ancelotti leaves Real Madrid to try to turn Brazil's national team around: profile

Win, win, always win, win in Italian, win in English, French, or Spanish—no matter the language, Carlo Ancelotti masters the universal verb of victory. This past season, however, his Real Madrid team didn't win; they were as empty-handed as the white of their shirt. They didn't win the Copa del Rey, the La Liga, or the Champions League.

So, it was only natural that the coaching bench would shake and the club would hold those responsible, even its legendary coach. Ancelotti fell, and he did so on his feet. Today he bids farewell to Real Madrid, at the Santiago Bernabéu, in the final game of the season (vs. Real Sociedad, 9:15 am, DSports TV), already the coaching legend who won the most titles in the history of the greatest team of all time: 15 trophies. And he landed on his feet because he is now the coach of Brazil, the five-time world champion, and he had been tempting him until he finally convinced him. Ancelotti will put into practice his favorite verb, to win, but this time in Portuguese: ganhar.

Brazil, which these days doesn't look like Brazil, which descended from heaven to earth, urgently needs improvement, a resurgence, for that yellow jersey to inspire fear again and for its rivals to once again respect it. Brazil is stumbling in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers; it's strange to look at the standings today and find it isn't first, second, or even third. Brazil, fourth? Yes. Strange. In this turbulent qualifying campaign, Brazil has already had several coaches: after the World Cup in Qatar, Tite left, and Ramón Menezes became interim coach, then Fernando Diniz as another interim coach. Dorival Junior arrived and left because he had to after the 4-1 defeat against Argentina in Buenos Aires. If the alarm bells weren't ringing in the five-time world champions, with that result, they all went off. Brazil, on its ruins. Brazil, in ashes. The reconstruction was necessary, and it has already begun, and it started at the top, with the selection of a coach who knows how to win and is respected around the world. That's Carlo Ancelotti, who hasn't even finished the season in Spain with Real Madrid yet, but he can already start taking samba and Portuguese lessons. Ganho, they say, and he's already practicing.

Carlo Ancelotti is Italian, 65 years old, and will turn 66 on June 10th, the very day Brazil faces Paraguay in the qualifying round. He was a footballer, a midfielder, and an elegant player on the pitch. He played for Parma, Roma, and Milan. He was an organizer, a leader, a winner, a conductor who quickly took a seat in the dugout to see football through the eyes of a coach. His career as a manager is extensive and successful: Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid again, in that order. He has won a lot. Winning is his virtue.

He was the first coach to win all five major European leagues: in England with Chelsea (2010), in Italy with Milan (2004), in France with Paris Saint-Germain (2013), in Germany with Bayern Munich (2017), and in Spain with Real Madrid, twice (2022 and 2024). He's the most successful coach in the Champions League; he won it five times, twice with Milan and three with Real Madrid. He's a winning machine for the teams he manages. He hasn't played for national teams; that's his debt. Going to a World Cup, fighting for a World Cup. For someone named Ancelotti, that must be the new motivation. No one manages Brazil without thinking about being a world champion, much less him.

Carlo Ancelotti is a legendary coach. That's what his resume should say. I am Ancelotti and I am a legend, but he'd never say it. Although he's won so much, he's not one to wear medals on his chest. He's won with his calm, quiet, and collected style, exaggerated for those who are after the blood that so easily spills in that coaching position. Ancelotti seems like a charismatic guy; that's what he projects on the pitch, while chewing gum, one after another, as if to deceive emotions, and in his press conferences, when he answers intelligently and without flinching. Sometimes, even with humor—"I can't ask Santa Claus not to bring me criticism in 2025."

He's not a controversial coach, he doesn't get involved in controversies—"I don't want to talk about the referee"—he doesn't respond to provocations, he's a person of simple words, with his skillful Spanish, or his fluent French, or his English. He's a defender of his players, one of those coaches who assume collective blame as their own in order to protect their charges. A buffer. The opposite of a Mourinho, a Simeone, or an Antonio Conte. Ancelotti is Ancelotti, the good-natured grandfather with his gray hair and that appearance of someone who doesn't give instructions, but advice.

Before returning to Real Madrid (in 2022), Ancelotti was at Bayern, Napoli, and then at Everton, a minor club compared to the giants he had managed. There, he built a competitive team, to which he added James Rodríguez, who has been like his adopted son. He had him at Madrid, took him to Bayern, almost brought him to Napoli, and asked him to join Everton. He's been his defender, his father in football. What would James be without Ancelotti? "Carlo has excellent team management skills, he's proven it all over the world, he's spectacular, he's the best in the world for me, I always played with him... I had something in him," James himself once said. Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid to rescue them from a shipwreck and put them back in their rightful place, on solid ground. They won La Liga and the Champions League last season. But this one, they didn't win anything... Is the romance over? Is the honeymoon over? It doesn't seem that way. The Madrid press recently reported that Real Madrid and Ancelotti haven't completely parted ways, that they'll just take a break, like couples, and that they've agreed to return when the Italian's adventure with Brazil ends, after the 2026 World Cup, and not necessarily as a coach. So the coach is leaving without discord, without enmity. There's a reason he was best friends with Real Madrid's boss, Florentino Pérez: "There's a captain of the ship here, and that's Florentino," he once said.

The elegant and impeccable black suit with a tie and waistcoat that Ancelotti wears seems like his fireproof armor. Ancelotti is not intimidated by the fires of the press or the pressure of the fans, nor does he crumble in sporting earthquakes. He perfectly fulfills the football adage that says if you don't like problems, you shouldn't be the coach of a big team. Ancelotti, free of vanity, is not shaken by problems, and he never loses his script in the face of adversity. "He is an extraordinary coach and an ordinary man," is how Jorge Valdano, former Real Madrid manager and player, defines him. "Very important, but never above the players. He wins or loses with the same ease, never makes a fool of himself to justify the unjustifiable, and never wastes a single second on the bad taste of demagoguery," adds Valdano in his book Fútbol: el juego infinito. The most extravagant thing he's ever done was appear wearing dark glasses and a cigar in his mouth (a cigar he didn't smoke because he doesn't smoke) when he won his fifth Champions League, Real Madrid's 14th. A photo that went viral, a meme photo, he, Ancelotti, the most successful Champions League winner, a meme, beyond belief. It's said that Ancelotti instills sufficient confidence in his players in the dressing room. His calm demeanor acts as an anesthetic for critical moments. A pacifist. If the team wins, Ancelotti retreats into his own shadow, almost unnoticed, and if the team loses, he's the first to confront the arsenal aimed at him. Furthermore, he's used to managing stars, difficult ones like Vinícius, whom he'll also have in Brazil, or more distinguished ones, like Modric. His method seems simple: he doesn't command, he convinces. "Ancelotti is like those sheepdogs who seem only concerned with keeping the flock together. He practices preventative medicine every day so that the dressing room isn't a collection of loose wills, but a team," adds Valdano.

It's Monday, May 12th. Real Madrid wakes up with the hangover from losing the Clásico against Barcelona, ​​which was their last chance to fight for the league title, which they subsequently lost. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has the news on hold and can't wait any longer, so it's released it on its social media:

“The best national team in the history of football will now be coached by the most successful coach in the world,” and the photo of Ancelotti in his black suit with his right arm raised. And, meanwhile, at Real Madrid, silence. The news spread around the world in a matter of seconds. The open secret was a reality. Ancelotti is Brazil's coach. 10 million euros a year; that, the Brazilian press says, is what they agreed to. An astronomical figure. Brazil is going all out to sign a coach like him. His arrival, however, is already generating buzz. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva questioned the issue: “I have nothing to do with him being a foreigner... what I believe is that we have coaches in Brazil who could manage the Selecao,” he said. The Italian hasn't arrived and is already facing the problem of the crisis at the CBF (Brazilian Football Federation) following the dismissal of President Esnaldo Rodríguez, the one who signed him, for alleged fraud. A storm. Meanwhile, some legendary Brazilian figures are already welcoming the coach, such as Rivaldo and Romário, who predict success, and his European colleagues are already looking at him with caution. Luis Enrique, the Spanish manager of PSG, joked: "It's obvious that I don't wish any success on either Brazil or Ancelotti because my national team is the one I want to see."

The European press revealed that the first thing Ancelotti did, after agreeing to Brazil, was to call Neymar and Casemiro, two of the national team's flagship players, to begin laying the groundwork for his project, which is getting off to a strong start against Ecuador and Paraguay.

On Monday, the Italian will start the match in Brazil. Ancelotti has won in many languages, now he wants to do so in Portuguese...